John Corey Lanier, left, and Todd Dalton
Suspects at large: Coty Keith Holmes and David Gordon Jenkins.
Site where man was found dead in a Cowan, Tenn., cornfieldAll four men charged in the March 2013 cornfield slaying of Corey N. Matthews near Cowan, Tenn., could end up with their cases being tried separately, now that two of the cases already have been pulled out.
Authorities arrested the four Tennessee men — John Corey Lanier, 26, Todd E. Dalton, 39, David Gordon Jenkins, 46, and Coty Keith Holmes, 25 — on charges of first-degree murder and felony murder in the killing. The ages are listed as they were upon the men’s arrests.
The suspects have ties to white supremacy groups, as did the victim, authorities said. Investigators have said the men’s ties to the Aryan Nation and possibly the Aryan Brotherhood are linked to the slaying.
The cases of Lanier and Holmes now are separated from the case of Jenkins and Dalton, according to officials. Holmes was the first defendant to seek a separate trial last summer in a motion for a speedy trial, and Lanier’s case was severed last month.
Franklin County Sheriff Tim Fuller said the defendants could end up testifying against each other when their cases are tried.